Oatmeal Mode: Post-Game Challenge

     I know that there are hardcore thrill seekers out there who want a serious challenge or NewGame+ content that's harder rather than easier. To satisfy that itch Battle Gem Ponies will have a built-in Nuzlocke challenge feature dubbed Oatmeal Mode. A challenge that will reduce you to mush. This is basically a permadeath mode where knocked-out ponies stay down and it's harder to add ponies to your team.

Find out what Oatmeal Mode is all about below.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #10 (Shaping Up Well)

     Development is going great! I'm on track to get the basics of the overworld roaming finished by the end of Spring Break. That means I'll have a little island to roam and get into battles on. Battles that actually calculate things based on my party's data, thanks to all the coding done this week. Once this demo island is playable I'll get started on adding a few more moves and polishing the battle scene.

You can find the usual status report information below the break.

BGP Achievement Plans

     A minor thing I'm keeping on my mind is what I plan to do for achievements. Having achievements increases visibility and the lifespan of the game by putting it in a database of optimized compatible products and giving players challenges to take on. Achievements are available in some form on every platform I plan to be on so it'll be good for me to plan ahead and make them universally compatible and evenly divisible by the various reward scores.

     Unlike with my other game DragCore's Achievements I plan on having things that increase replay value and really challenge players to hunt each one down. If you're already being rewarded for doing things like quests, there's no point in tacking on an achievement too. Achievements are meta by nature so they should embrace meta gameplay.

     Chances are you'll be getting high level achievements for doing things like winning stadium matches with bizarre teams, triggering hidden events in the overworld, completing the super hard NewGame+, catching a legendary with the weakest capture gem money can buy, or interacting with secret field objects. I want to make achievements people want to brag about. That's what they're for.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #9 (Spreadsheet Code & Music)

     As predicted, this was a very productive week leading to a week with tons of visible progress. After messing with code stuff for a few days I now have an efficient way to put hundreds of moves, animations, and ponies in my game.

     The screenshot above is what the current Move Info interface looks like. If you click a question mark with a move selected in battle yo'll see this stuff pop up. Move type, power, accuracy, classes, description, elemental match-up, and so on. I think it'll be really useful to players so it should be accessible when and where you need it most.

     I considered just showing the Good, Fail, or Bad symbol above text next to the target but decided that it would be more beneficial to the player if they got the chance to memorize all the classes a move is strong against and get more familiar with all the classes.

If you want to see what else I've been messing with this week, hop on over the page break.
It's DevLog time!